Full Name:
John Everson
Do you have a nickname or what do your friends
call you?
That assumes I have friends that call me!
Birthplace:
Evergreen Park, IL
Current hometown:
Naperville, IL
Favorite city and why?
I can’t pick just one because there are three cities that I’m obsessed
with: San Francisco, Austin, TX and Santa Fe, NM, in roughly that order.
Why? For starters, all of them are warmer and have better scenery than Chicago!
More importantly, all of them have
amazing arts scenes. San Francisco not
only has an amazing liberal music, literary and art scene going on, it also has
a wild divergence of food, culture and geography. I’ve set two of my novels north of the city. I love that within an hour you can be in the
ocean, on a mountain or in the wine country.
Austin lives by the mantra “Keep Austin Weird.” It is, and it’s wonderful. It has the best music scene in the country. I used to go to SXSW all the time, and long
for the day I can go back. My son’s middle
name is not Austin by accident.
Santa Fe is a quiet gem of a town set high in the hills of NM. It’s been my writing mecca for years, since I
go there on business every year. And
they have the best chili rellenos on the planet.
Birthday / Age:
March 14, 1966 / You can do the math.
How would you describe yourself physically?
Taller than a midget and shorter than a linebacker.
How would someone else describe you
physically?
Is this for a police report? Because I’m not providing a DNA sample.
Thank you for not offering to provide a
DNA sample.
They frown on that at the post office.
The first thing people notice about you is…
How wildly charismatic I am. Okay, maybe irreverent smartass is a more
accurate evaluation.
Sexual orientation?
Yes, I am strongly sexually oriented.
Religion, if any?
Church of the Poison Mind.
Are you superstitious at all? Any phobias?
I’m afraid of people who want to send me $1 million dollars from
Zimbabwe.
I don’t know who those e-mails actually
work on. I’m automatically suspicious of
any unfamiliar e-mails with attachments attached. Especially any e-mails from foreign barristers,
princesses, and lotteries.
I know, right? I still get one of these silly things at least once a week!
They must work on someone occasionally.
Do you smoke/drink? If so, what? Any
bad habits?
I love English Ale, craft IPAs and a shot of Makers Mark bourbon on
the side. If that’s a bad habit, I’m going to hell.
Well at least you’ll be in good
company. The downside? Warm beer.
True. I wonder if they just serve British cask beer in hell?
I’ll let you know when I get there.
Current occupation / Dream job:
I pay the mortgage by managing internet offerings for a medical
association. I’d love to be able to pay
the mortgage by touring in a rock band as the songwriting keyboardist “soul” of
the group.
What do you like to do when you’re not at
work?
Over the past few years, I’ve been slowly working my way through
seemingly every horror and exploitation film of the ‘70s and early ‘80s. I have a strong penchant for euro-productions.
Oh, and, occasionally, I buckle down and
write fiction.
What is your zombie outbreak survival
plan?
Take all the canned goods and Tostitos to the basement, make sure the beer
fridge is stocked, and get ready to enjoy re-watching all of my DVDs from Jean
Rollin, Lucio Fulci, Dario Argento, Jess Franco, Russ Meyer, Mario Bava, Stuart
Gordon and others for the next few days. After the power goes out, I guess I’ll donate
my brain to the cause… if there are any brain cells left.
Love those directors! I’ve had the good fortune to actually meet
Rollin, Argento and Gordon.
Weapon of choice:
QWERTY keyboard.
Do you have any special skills?
I play the synthesizer and cook a mean stir fry and atomic chile con
queso.
Did you go to college and, if so, what for?
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. I majored in Journalism with a focus on
Renaissance Literature.
If you went to college, did you manage to pay off your student loans?
Loans? What for? I worked my ass off in high school and college
at part-time jobs to save up my tuition and dorm money and never took a loan
from anyone. Including my parents. I never took out a student loan -- I paid for
all four years of college on my own, with some academic scholarships. My first loan was for my first car… which I
bought just before I graduated, so I could continue to be a workaholic and get
to my first full-time job – as a Chicago area newspaper reporter!
Any pets? If so, what are they and what are their names?
I share my home office with a lesser sulphur cockatoo named Kiwi. We got her as a baby 22 years ago (we actually
spoon fed her the first few weeks we had her).
In the cage next to her is my 25-year-old lutino cockatiel, Lem. Anyone who knows birds will realize that in
human years, Lem’s about 110 years old! And
last fall, we went to a bird show just to see some birds and ended up coming
home with a baby grey cockatiel we named Stormy. I think she has bonded with me more than any
pet I’ve ever had! If I am home, she is
on my shoulder. We also have a
3-year-old parakeet named Boomer who keeps Stormy company in the family room
when I’m not around.
What is your favorite animal?
After the prior response, I think it’s no surprise that I’m very much
a bird person.
Speaking of pets, any pet peeves?
“People” is probably too general of a response, huh? Eh, too bad, I’m going with that.
Favorite / Least favorite Food:
I’m excited by any food with a healthy dose of hot peppers. Preferably
chunks of the actual peppers, not powder. Spicy Thai Noodles, Cajun gumbo, Mexican
salsa, Southwest Chile Rellenos… have peppers, will eat.
Won’t eat? Most fish. Not a fan of fishy things, Brussel sprouts or cauliflower
(I’m convinced the latter is a deceptive product of Styrofoam makers).
What is your favorite quotation / motto / saying?
“With age comes wisdom, and ironically, Alzheimer’s.”
What is the best thing that ever happened to
you?
Becoming a father.
What is the worst thing that ever happened to you?
I’ve been fairly lucky in life. There have been emotional turmoils, but I’ve
never broken a bone, lived on the street, or suffered a really life-shattering
defeat. My parents’ divorce when I was
14 was probably a heavy hit… but ultimately, it gave me strength and made me
the person I am today. So I’m not sure
that was a “worst” thing. It may have
been a “best” thing!
Ever had your heart broken? Is there a story
worth telling behind your answer?
No, honestly, I don’t think I have.
Ever broken someone’s heart? Is there a story
worth telling behind your answer?
I’m not a very outwardly emotional person, so I’d guess I’ve broken
every woman’s heart who ever loved me at some point, from my mother to my wife.
I don’t suppose that’s a positive character trait.
What is the best thing you’ve ever done?
In college I applied and got accepted into a magazine intern program
in New York City. The result was, I got on a plane, rode in a taxi from the
airport, and lived out of state for the first time in my life – all at once! It
was an experience that really changed my career path and outlook on life
forever.
What is the worst thing you’ve ever done?
If I told you, I’d have to kill you.
If you could kill one person, consequence
free, who would it be and why?
See previous answer.
What do you do?
I run an online medical education website for a non-profit
association.
How did you get started doing what you do?
In college, I had an internship at a music magazine (Stereo Review) in NYC, and then another
internship at the American Medical Association’s AMNews tabloid. The first
one got me a job at a newspaper and later a music magazine for a few years. The second internship (later) got me a job as
a news editor for a medical association… where I subsequently climbed the
management ladder over the next decade. So
I have “written” my whole professional life – for newspapers, magazines, trade
publications, educational websites… and for fiction magazines, anthologies and
publishers on the side.
What is your advice to other people that want
to get started doing what you do?
Do what you want to do. Don’t pull your punches, and don’t give up, if
that’s what you really want. Don’t be a dabbler. Dive in… or go find something
else that you care about enough to give your all to. If you want to succeed at fiction or music, or any of the
arts, you have to be “all in”. If you’re not going to be… don’t bother.
What are some of the projects you’ve worked
on/finished in the past? Give us a little history if you will.
I spent the ‘90s writing and publishing short fiction in various small
press magazines, which was eventually collected in my first book Cage of Bones & Other Deadly Obsessions
in 2000. That was one of the first books that the famed Delirium Books produced
(I think it was #6). Another short story collection followed, Vigilantes of Love, in 2003, and then
finally my first novel, Covenant,
came out on Delirium in 2004, about 10 years after my first short story was
published. My second novel, Sacrifice,
followed in 2007, along with my 3rd short fiction collection, Needles & Sins (from Necro). The
following year, Covenant and Sacrifice were bought and reissued in
mass market paperback by Leisure Books. I wrote three more original novels for
them before Leisure folded. Then I moved to Samhain Publishing, where I’ve
published three more novels – NightWhere,
Violet Eyes and The Family Tree.
Along the way, I’ve also written in “other people’s worlds” which has been fun.
I wrote “Witch Trapped,” a tie-in novelette for “The Vampire Diaries” that was
contracted by Amazon Publishing to launch their “Kindle Worlds” storefront and
I’ve written Green Hornet and Kolchak: The Night Stalker stories for Moonstone.
I’ve also written two novelettes for books 1 and 3 of Jonathan Maberry’s shared
world V-Wars anthologies.
Covenant and NightWhere and a short story, “Letting Go” have all been Bram
Stoker Award finalists (Covenant won).
What projects are you working on now?
I’m working on the sequel to Covenant
and Sacrifice. It’s a book I’ve
wanted to write for eight years, so I’m having a blast.
What are you watching?
I don’t watch television shows, but every weekend I pop in a DVD or
two on my big screen in the basement. Last weekend I watched Alejandro
Jodorowsky’s restored transgressive 1973 masterpiece The Holy Mountain and the director’s cut of Clive Barker’s NightBreed.
What are you listening to?
At this moment? www.strangewaysradio.com.
It’s what I listen to every night at my computer.
What are you reading?
E.L. James’ Fifty Shades Freed.
Favorite author / book?
Hard to pull just one. Clive
Barker’s The Damnation Game had a big
impact on me, as did the early novels of Stephen King, Edward Lee and Anne
Rice.
Favorite band / song?
The Cure, Psychedelic Furs and Kate Bush top my favorite musical
artists list. But that list is longggggggggg. I was a music critic with a
weekly newspaper column on pop music for 20 years. So my favorites include
everyone from John Fogerty to Green Day to Katy Perry to Brandi Carlile.
Least favorite band / song?
I’ll be honest, I can’t fathom why anyone listens to Kanye West.
If you could do anything other than what you do now, what would you do?
I’d be writing and recording music for a living. Music has always been my first love. I
realized early on though that I was more likely to be able to earn a living and
support my family writing than I was as a musician. Plus, you don’t ever have to leave your office
as a writer!
Who would you want to meet that you haven’t
met? You get three choices:
Alive. Kate
Bush.
Dead. William Shakespeare
Fictional. Lestat
What’s the best and worst job you’ve ever had?
Working as an assistant editor at the Illinois Entertainer was probably the best. I’d say my internship
at Stereo Review, because I was in
NYC and working for a real magazine… but I didn’t get to write much there,
though I was in an amazing place that summer.
Worst job? Stocking shelves at the grocery store in high school.
Are there any questions that I didn’t ask that you wished I had asked that you
would like to answer now?
Don’t you want to know my favorite color?
No.
But if you’re burning to tell us, feel free to do so.
The first-pass survey is just a tool I use to try to get to know people I don’t
know so we can try to get a conversation started.
I’m a purple nut. My home office? Painted purple. My iPhone case? Purple.
The “eye” (mine) that serves as the logo of Dark Arts Books? Purple. Nearly any
book that I’ve signed over the past 10 years has been signed with a purple pen.
It was no accident that my seventh novel was called Violet Eyes.
Anyone you recommend I interview that you can
put me in touch with?
W.D. Gagliani, Brian Pinkerton, Martin Mundt, Mort Castle, Bill
Breedlove? (Great writers and friends in the Chicago/Milwaukee area).
I’ve got an interview with W. D. Gagliani
almost ready to post, but feel free to point anyone else in my direction.
Got any questions for me?
Has this every happened to you? You go to a wild party and wake up the
next morning at home with a cooler that is filled with ice and human kidneys
next to your bed? Just curious.
No, sir, I can’t say that it has.
Oh… er… nevermind then!
Thanks for letting me subject you to being interviewed!
It was fun!
Pitch parade:
Give me all of your links for things you want to promote. All of
them.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/johneverson
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JohnEverson
Website: http://www.johneverson.com
Blog: http://www.johneverson.com/wordplay
Amazon Author Page: http://www.amazon.com/John-Everson/e/B002BMHL52/
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/130045.John_Everson
About the Interviewee:
John Everson is the
Bram Stoker Award-winning author of the novels Covenant, Sacrifice, The 13th, Siren and The Pumpkin Man, all
released by Dorchester/Leisure Books in paperback and by Delirium, Necro and
Bad Moon Books in limited hardcover. His sixth novel, NightWhere, was a 2012
Bram Stoker Award Finalist. The
Family Tree, NightWhere
and Violet Eyes,
his "creepy spider novel" were released from Samhain Publishing.
A wide selection of his short fiction has been collected in five short story
collections - Deadly
Nightlusts (Blasphemous Books, 2010), Creeptych (Delirium Books, 2010), Needles & Sins (Necro
Books, 2007), Vigilantes of
Love (Twilight Tales, 2003) and Cage
of Bones & Other Deadly Obsessions (Delirium Books, 2000).
John is also the editor of the anthologies Sins
of the Sirens (Dark Arts Books, 2008) and In Delirium II (Delirium
Books, 2007) and co-editor of the
Spooks! ghost story anthology (Twilight Tales, 2004). In 2006, he
co-founded Dark Arts Books to produce trade paperback collections spotlighting
the cutting edge work of some of the best authors working in short dark fantasy
fiction today.
John shares a deep purple den in Naperville, Illinois with a cockatoo and
cockatiel, a disparate collection of fake skulls, twisted skeletal fairies,
Alan Clark illustrations and a large stuffed Eeyore. There's also a mounted
Chinese fowling spider named Stoker courtesy of fellow horror author Charlee
Jacob, an ever-growing shelf of custom mix CDs and an acoustic guitar that he
can't really play but that his son likes to hear him beat on anyway. Sometimes
his wife is surprised to find him shuffling through more public areas of the
house, but it's usually only to brew another cup of coffee. In order to avoid
the onerous task of writing, he records pop-rock songs in a hidden home studio,
experiments with the insatiable culinary joys of the jalapeno, designs book
covers for a variety of small presses, loses hours in expanding an array of
gardens and chases frequent excursions into the bizarre visual headspace of
'70s euro-horror DVDs with a shot of Makers Mark and a tall glass of Newcastle.
For information on his fiction, art and music, visit John Everson: Dark Arts at
www.johneverson.com or Facebook at www.facebook.com/johneverson.
About the Interviewer:
Scott Lefebvre can write about whatever you want him to write about.
Mostly
because when he was grounded for his outlandish behavior as a
hyperactive school child, the only place he was allowed to go was the
public library.
His literary tastes were forged by the works of Helen
Hoke, Alvin Schwartz and Stephen Gammell, Ray Bradbury, Richard
Matheson, Stephen King, Clive Barker, Edgar Allan Poe, and H. P.
Lovecraft.
He is the author of Spooky Creepy Long Island, and Condemned; and a contributing author to Forrest J. Ackerman’s Anthology of the Living Dead, Fracas: A Collection of Short Friction, The Call of Lovecraft, and Cashiers du Cinemart.
His
reviews have been published by a variety of in print and online media
including Scars Magazine, Icons of Fright, Fatally Yours and Screams of
Terror, and he has appeared in Fangoria, Rue Morgue and HorrorHound
Magazine.
Check out his publishing imprint Burnt Offerings Books here:
http://burntofferingsbooks.blogspot.com/
Check out his electronic music here: soundcloud.com/master_control
And here: master-control.bandcamp.com
Check out his Etsy here: www.etsy.com/shop/ScottLefebvreArt
Stalk his Facebook at: www.facebook.com/TheLefebvre
E-mail him at: Scott_Lefebvre@hotmail.com
Full Name:
William Gagliani, but I write as W.D. Gagliani.
Do you have a nickname or what do your friends
call you?
Bill (boring, I know). In my youth I was known more as Will, but that
one faded.
Birthplace:
Kenosha, WI – but I grew up in the Northern Italian seaport, Genova,
until I was eight years old. Then a
three-week ocean voyage brought me back to my native land. My parents were born in Italy, though, so I
grew up speaking Italian first, and have been bilingual forever. I’ve taken some of my parents’ experiences as
kids under Allied bombing and German occupation in WWII and folded it into the
parallel story that runs through several of my Lupo novels.
Current hometown:
A suburb of Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Favorite city and why?
I’ve been to New York seven times, but never long enough. I love NYC and would move there in a minute if
I could afford it! Ever since I walked
42nd Street and stood on the outdoor observation deck of the World
Trade Center in the mid-70s (1975) I’ve been attracted to the city, and
Manhattan especially. Lately I’ve been
fascinated by Roosevelt Island. I love
the Park, Greenwich Village, Little Italy, Midtown… maybe it’s all the great
60s-70s movies that were set there. I
also have a soft spot for Key West, where I spent a week a long time ago doing
the spring break thing. I’ve never gone
back, even though I’ve been to Florida a number of times. But basically I really like Milwaukee, too. It’s urban enough to be like a “big” city, but
it’s small enough to be calm and friendly.
Birthday / Age:
In my 50s.
How would you describe yourself physically?
The result of too sedentary a life, though once I used to lift weights
and play racquetball. Nowadays I have to force myself to exercise daily, and
the whole time I wish I was doing something else, LOL. Plus I’m Italian, so food and drink are part
of my requirements for a normal life.
You know why Italians wear gold chains
around their necks?
So they know where to stop when shaving.
Heh, well not ALL Italians wear chains. And silver is popular, except with
werewolves.
How would someone else describe you
physically?
On the short side, but imposing…
The first thing people notice about you is…
I still have most of my hair, and I wear it more or less like I did in
the 70s (longer than is typical). I just
don’t like haircuts. I used to wear a
ponytail (in the late 90s). It probably
makes me look like one of those people who never grew out of that one style,
but at least I left the leisure suit behind… Otherwise, I don’t know – the fact
that I like to wear black and just solid colors for the most part.
Sexual orientation?
I like to remain mysterious.
Religion, if any?
Recovered ex-Catholic.
Fully recovered or do you still do the
honorary Easter/Christmas routine?
I attend only funerals these days, and very occasionally a wedding.
Paradoxically, I love churchy music – I love the pipe organ, and a Bach or
Handel piece, or a great old Christmas carol will still give me (secular)
shivers. I think I’m drawn to early
Genesis precisely because of Tony Banks using the organ as if he were still in
a “public” school chapel, playing those great old English hymns. The pipe organ is very moving and powerful. If
anything good has come out of religion, it just might be some of the music.
I love myself some contrapuntal
Bach. I’m also a sucker for a
harpsichord.
Absolutely, me too. The very first
sound I ever tried to get on a synthesizer (in the days you had to move
parameters around just to get a sound) was harpsichord. And Bach was just cool. All of the Bachs.
Are you superstitious at all? Any phobias?
A little superstitious where the Goddess Fortuna is concerned! I have a couple superstitions, I guess, but
nothing debilitating. My mom always told
us to avoid opening an umbrella in the house, putting a hat on the bed, stuff
like that. I might cop to still
following those, just because. I’m
hedging my bets. No major phobias, but
I’m no fan of insects.
Do you smoke/drink? If so, what? Any
bad habits?
I do not smoke (though my parents did). I really can’t stand to breathe in smoke of
any kind – it just impedes my breathing. But I’ve never met a good beer or a good
cocktail I didn’t like. I like craft
beers and European beers, but I’ve reduced my beer drinking tremendously since
college… now I stick to rum, brandy, whiskey, Campari, Vermouth, B&B,
classic cocktails like Manhattans, Crimson Slippers, Negroni, rum (or gin) &
tonic... an endless list, but I like to experiment a little, such as swapping
brandy for the rye whiskey or bourbon in the Manhattan (brandy is a Wisconsin
thing), adding Campari instead of bitters, and so on. (In fact, my protagonist Nick Lupo takes
credit for inventing what he calls the Midtown Manhattan: brandy, sweet
Vermouth, a long dash of Campari, over rocks – olive or cherry optional.) Funny, up to a year ago I hated – really
hated! – gin, but I seem to have developed a taste for it now, thanks to trying
the classic Negroni, so now I don’t mind a gin & tonic, either. In wine, I like almost anything, but lately
I’ve enjoyed Tuscan wines and Sicilian Nero D’Avola the best. As an Italian
nearly by birth, I like good food and good wine and drink, but not to
outrageous excess… still, empty calories are a (very) bad habit I really need
to kick. But who wants to?
Current occupation / Dream job:
I’m a long-time library supervisor.
But I would love to be making a living at writing novels. I’ve had that dream since I was about 5… I’ve
fulfilled the dream, at least the publication part, with seven novels under my
belt, but the making a living part eludes me still…
That’s always the tough part. As if writing books isn’t hard enough, then
you have to find people to read them.
Even in this day and age of easy everything thanks to the Web, it still
amazes me that some novels are found by thousands of readers during a special
pricing event, while others are found by… dozens. Heh, I leave you to figure out which are mine!
What do you like to do when you’re not at
work?
Reading, writing, reviewing books (not so much these days due to time
constraints), watching movies and good TV, listening to progressive rock (fan),
messing around with synthesizers and things like a Theremin, and weapons (I use
a lot of weapons in my books, and therefore I have a strange little arsenal).
Who do you like for prog rock? I’ve been into King Crimson for a while and
lately I’ve been getting into stuff like High Tide, Hawkwind, and Goat.
You like some really niche music! Crimson
just misses my top 10, but I especially love the Larks’ Tongues and Starless
era. Sometimes they’re a bit too
esoteric, but I can handle it -- I still need to hear the most recent stuff
they’ve been doing on their current tour. I’ll have to check out High Tide and Goat – I
had heard of them, but never listened to them. I do remember seeing another Swedish band, the
legendary Anglagard, here in Milwaukee on one of their only one or three North
American gigs ever. Hawkwind I really
liked for a while, but then I lost track of them. Their association with Michael Moorcock
tickled me in the late 70s, and I still have some on vinyl – my favorite
Hawkwind is Hall of the Mountain Grill.
My own prog-rock favorites tend to lie in the “mainstream” of prog-rock:
Genesis, Yes, ELP, Floyd, Crimson, and less proggy bands like Tangerine Dream,
Kansas, and the Alan Parsons Project. I am a huge Steve Hackett fan and really
love his resurrection of Genesis classics on the last couple tours. I like
Spock’s Beard but mostly miss Neal Morse, and I’ve enjoyed Porcupine Tree/Steve
Wilson. I like a lot of solo work from people in those and other bands. I also
really like some venerable Italian prog bands: Goblin, PFM, Banco, etc. I’m a
sucker for any band that features keyboards… Hammond organ, pipe organ,
synthesizers, Mellotron, piano, Clavinet – you name it.
I do tend to listen to some niche
prog-rock, but I like what I like. It’s
not like I’m going out of my way to listen to music that’s more obscure than
other people listen to. I’m just always
looking for music that resonates with the hidden chord within me. I tried to get into deep King Crimson, but
wasn’t up to the challenge, although I stand by In The Court Of The Crimson
King as a mandatory album for anyone’s music library. You mentioned the theremin. Can you actually play a theremin?
Not so’s you’d like to hear it! But
I can make noises that sound vaguely like music, yes. Does that count?
For the purposes of this interview it
does.
What is your zombie outbreak survival plan?
Drive to the North Woods and hunker down on a lake somewhere.
Weapon of choice:
I have a variety, from tiny blades all the way to a 5.56mm Ruger
carbine. A couple crossbows, a replica
hand-and-a-half sword, etc. I guess if I
had to pick functional favorites, my S&W old-school Model 10 revolver would
be great because it won’t jam. For
firepower, my Sig Sauer 9mm (and it also tends to live jam-free), and my Ruger
Mini-14.
Recently someone knocked Rick on The
Walking Dead for using a revolver, but that’s the good thing about a barrel
gun. You don’t have to worry about it
jamming.
Absolutely, it’s the perfect weapon of last resort. You can reload pretty
fast with speed-loaders, if you practice a little, but not if your hands shake.
I grew up watching Starsky & Hutch
on TV and, despite the ridiculous nature of pretty much everything on that
show, I was tuning in for Hutch’s Colt Python and to a lesser extent for
Starsky’s Smith & Wesson Model 59 with the 14-round magazine, which was
unusual at the time (the first, I believe, for a double-action). In any case, revolvers don’t jam unless you
bathe them in mud.
Do you have any special skills?
I speak/read/write Italian fluently, but have forgotten most of the
German I ever learned. Otherwise,
besides writing and a pretty good editorial eye, I’d say I have a good
knowledge of arcane library collection maintenance skills. I’ve been complimented for
my natural shooting ability (home invaders, please note).
Did you go to college and, if so, what for?
I finished with a Geology and English double BA and later an MA in
English, creative writing concentration. (Long ago…)
Any pets? If so, what are they and
what are their names?
Not any more.
What is your favorite animal?
Dogs, but I also highly respect wolves.
Speaking of pets, any pet peeves?
Too long a list, but I hate typical grammar errors: it’s/its,
there/their/they’re, etc.).
It’s the easy ones that are the
worst. I know that it’s easy to get
tripped up with usage errors like “pedal”/“petal”/“peddle” and that most people
don’t know the proper spelling of straitjacket, but when I’m reading a
submission and they’re having problems with their its yours and theres, usually
it means I’m not going to be able to enjoy their submission. If you want to be a carpenter, you have to
learn how to use the tools. Writing is
no different.
I hear you! It’s off-putting to read
the same minor error over and over again, especially with all the tools at our
fingertips these days. The web and the
Internet seem to have made us all sloppier writers, when really we should be
sharper.
Favorite / Least favorite Food:
I will always love pizza and bread (and pasta, I’m afraid). I’m open-minded on food, but I tend to dislike
anything that blends fruits and nuts with meats. And I haven’t eaten red meat since the late
90s. Hm, overall least favorite is
probably some Thai, which is weird because I like Chinese… go figure. Something about the flavor profiles hits me
wrong, I guess. I’m not a sushi fan,
either, though I love fish and shellfish.
What is your favorite quotation / motto /
saying?
Genesis: “Spring must strike again against the shield of winter.” (The
last week I was thinking about this one because of the deadly cold this
winter.) I’ve also been partial to the darkness of Floyd’s: “The sun is the
same in a relative way but you’re older, shorter of breath and one day closer
to death…”
What is the best thing that ever happened to
you?
Meeting a certain someone. We’re
still together.
Better that than an uncertain
someone. Congratulations!
Thanks!
What is the worst thing that ever happened to you?
Watching my dad die.
What is the best thing you’ve ever done?
I can’t judge.
What is the worst thing you’ve ever done?
I refuse to answer on the grounds that I may incriminate myself.
If you could kill one person, consequence
free, who would it be and why?
My attorney recommends I leave this one blank.
What do you do?
I’m a library Stacks Supervisor with delusions of literary abilities.
How did you get started doing what you do?
I fell into my day job as a student and worked my way up. I love books
and libraries, so it made sense.
What is your advice to other people that want
to get started doing what you do?
Besides writing? What I do for a living will fade in the next couple
decades, as all human knowledge migrates online and paper books become curios. What I do is a job that won’t exist
then. So I have to recommend that people don’t get into my line of work.
What are some of the projects you’ve worked
on/finished in the past? Give us a little history if you will.
I just turned in my 6th Nick Lupo horror-thriller, Wolf’s
Blind. Sometimes I’m amazed that Wolf’s Trap, my first novel, has been in print
pretty much continuously since it was first published in 2003. Recently I co-wrote (with David Benton)
stories that were accepted in the anthologies THE X-FILES: TRUST NO ONE and
SNAFU: AN ANTHOLOGY OF MILITARY HORROR, among others. One I’m really proud of
is the story we (as a team) had published in the final volume of the legendary
HOT BLOOD series (HOT BLOOD 13: DARK PASSIONS). Pretty much anyone I’ve ever
idolized had a story in one of those, so I felt we’d arrived when we made it.
Stephen King never had one in there, I think, but I covered that by having my
story “Icewall” appear in ROBERT BLOCH’S PSYCHOS, in which King had “Autopsy
Room 4.” That anthology was also translated into Italian (appropriate!) and
Japanese.
What projects are you working on now?
I’m working on a novel with my frequent collaborator, David Benton. I’m piecing together the synopsis for
the 7th Lupo novel, while trying to finalize my long-delayed first Lupo
novella. I have a few other long-term
projects in progress. I like to keep a
lot of pots simmering. I usually like to
say I have more burners on the stove than I can handle.
What are you watching?
Movies, of course. On TV: House of Cards, Game of Thrones, Hemlock
Grove, Alpha House, NCIS, Justified, Grimm, Teen Wolf, Suits, House of Lies,
American Horror Story, Orange Is the New Black, Constantine, Real Time with
Bill Maher, Strike Back, Castle, Episodes, True Detective, Penny Dreadful, etc.
I’ve also enjoyed some shows that have ended, such as The Sopranos,
Californication, Burn Notice, Leverage, The Bridge… Also I’ve always been a
Bond fan, despite the glaring flaws in some of the franchise entries. I saw my
first Bond movie in 1964, Goldfinger dubbed into Italian. I was not overly
thrilled with Skyfall, but I have hopes for Spectre.
I just finished watching the first two
season of House Of Cards. What an
amazing experience!
I’m actually stuck in season 2 at the moment, but I’m looking forward to
season 3! I love the Machiavellian
subterfuge. I love the winking asides. I
love to see characters with a well-developed evil side, although I also do like
to see them getting what’s coming to them sometimes. Not always, though – I think it’s more
realistic when they get away with evil deeds.
What are you listening to?
I don’t mind a variety of things, but I listen mostly to progressive
rock, electronic music (old school, such as Tangerine Dream), so-called new
age, classic rock, cinema soundtrack music, classical/Renaissance. I also don’t
mind jazz and fusion, blues, r&b, folk, Rat Pack and the like, etc. Lately
when I write it’s been Jerry Goldsmith soundtracks (Our Man Flint, In Like
Flint, The Omen, etc.) and Tangerine Dream (I have about 70 recordings… and I
was recently devastated by the death of Edgar Froese).
What are you reading?
John Sandford’s latest, Lee Child’s latest, catching up on Jeffery
Deaver’s Rhyme novels and Robert Crais’s Elvis Cole novels, a classic thriller
by Desmond Bagley (a reread), Joe Lansdale’s Cold in July (another reread), and
some friends’ upcoming novels. I
tend to read a half-dozen books concurrently.
Favorite author / book?
Tim Powers: The Anubis Gates and The Stress of Her Regard (tie)
Favorite band / song?
Tie: Yes, ELP, Genesis, Tangerine Dream, Alan Parsons Project. Hard to
pick one song, but maybe “Awaken” by Yes. “And You and I,” by Yes. “Firth of
Fifth” by Genesis. “Old and Wise” by APP. I could keep listing songs as they
occur. Favorite album is probably Tarkus, by ELP.
Least favorite band / song?
Anything too pop, too boring, too bubblegum, too simplistic.
If you could do anything other than what you
do now, what would you do?
It’d be fun to direct a movie, but I think I’d be bad at it.
Who would you want to meet that you haven’t
met? You get three choices:
Alive. Dead. Fictional.
Ach, I’m terrible in one on one meetings. I’ve already met many of my
musician and writer idols. I guess I’d like to have a beer with Keith Emerson.
Have him let me mess around with his Moog modular synthesizer.
What’s the best and worst job you’ve ever had?
I worked at UPS for a couple months a long time ago (many, many years
ago) – I hated it. Best job is writing, followed by my day job: working with
students and maintaining a large book collection. Probably I’d like to have
worked for a publisher, maybe as editor, but only during the good old days,
when midlist writers were nurtured rather than cut off at the knees for not
being bestsellers.
Are there any questions that I didn’t ask that
you wished I had asked that you would like to answer now?
No, but I’m glad you didn’t ask me: “Why werewolves?”
Pfft.
That’s an obvious one. Because
werewolves.
Right! LOL… You’d be surprised (maybe not) at how much I get that one. Mind you, I don’t mind telling it again, but
it’s out there in print already. I’m
also in love with thrillers, so I don’t HAVE to be a werewolf guy…
Anyone you recommend I interview that
you can put me in touch with?
Not off-hand, but I may think of some. Hmm, maybe the team of Tamara Thorne
and Alistair Cross, a couple of friends who have new collaborative work coming
soon.
Cool.
If you want to point them in my direction we’ll see where it goes.
I will. Tamara is one of my earliest
friends in the business. An excellent writer – and a wonderful person!
Got any questions for me?
Not yet, but again thanks for having me spout off!
Thanks for letting me subject you to being interviewed!
Pitch parade:
Give me all of your links for things you want to promote. All of
them.
Facebook: www.facebook.com/wdgagliani
Twitter: @WDGagliani
Amazon Author Page: www.amazon.com/W.-D.-Gagliani/e/B002BMHHPQ
Website: www.wdgagliani.com // www.williamdgagliani.com
Blog: www.wdgagliani.com/blog.htm
Next appearances:
Barnes & Noble in Racine, WI – Saturday, April 4, 2015 (with David Benton,
Chris Larsen, and others)
http://store-locator.barnesandnoble.com/store/2037
OdysseyCon in Madison, WI – Fri-Sun, April 10-12 (with David Benton,
John Everson, Jonathan Maberry, and many others)
http://www.odysseycon.org/
About the Interviewee:
W.D. Gagliani is the author of the
novels Wolf’s Trap (a past Bram
Stoker Award nominee; Samhain), Wolf’s
Gambit (47North), Wolf’s
Bluff (47North), Wolf’s
Edge (Samhain), Wolf’s Cut
(Samhain), Wolf’s Blind (upcoming, Samhain), and Savage Nights (Tarkus Press). Since 1986 he has published fiction and nonfiction in
numerous anthologies and publications such as Robert Bloch’s Psychos, Undead Tales, More Monsters From Memphis, The Midnighters Club, and many more.
His book reviews and nonfiction have been included in, among others, The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Chizine, HorrorWorld, Cemetery Dance, Hellnotes, Science
Fiction Chronicle, Flesh & Blood, The Scream Factory, The Writer magazine, and the books
Thrillers: 100 Must Reads, They Bite, and On Writing Horror. Six of his short
stories have earned Honorable Mentions in The Year’s Best Fantasy & Horror,
and some are collected in the book Shadowplays. He is an Active member of the
Horror Writers Association (HWA), the International Thriller Writers (ITW), and
the Authors Guild.
The team of W.D. Gagliani & David Benton has published fiction in venues
such as (upcoming) The X-Files: Trust No One (edited by Jonathan Maberry),
SNAFU: An Anthology of Military Horror, SNAFU: Wolves at the Door, Dark Passions: Hot Blood XIII, Zippered
Flesh 2, Masters of Unreality (Germany), Malpractice: An Anthology of Bedside Terror, Splatterpunk
Zine, and Dead Lines, along with
the Kindle Worlds Vampire Diaries tie-in “Voracious in Vegas.” Some of their
collaborations are available in the collection Mysteries & Mayhem.
Together as “A.G. Kent” they have also written and published the middle grade
adventure novel I Was a Seventh Grade Monster Hunter.
About the Interviewer:
Scott Lefebvre can write about whatever you want him to write about.
Mostly
because when he was grounded for his outlandish behavior as a
hyperactive school child, the only place he was allowed to go was the
public library.
His literary tastes were forged by the works of Helen
Hoke, Alvin Schwartz and Stephen Gammell, Ray Bradbury, Richard
Matheson, Stephen King, Clive Barker, Edgar Allan Poe, and H. P.
Lovecraft.
He is the author of Spooky Creepy Long Island, and Condemned; and a contributing author to Forrest J. Ackerman’s Anthology of the Living Dead, Fracas: A Collection of Short Friction, The Call of Lovecraft, and Cashiers du Cinemart.
His
reviews have been published by a variety of in print and online media
including Scars Magazine, Icons of Fright, Fatally Yours and Screams of
Terror, and he has appeared in Fangoria, Rue Morgue and HorrorHound
Magazine.
Check out his publishing imprint Burnt Offerings Books here:
http://burntofferingsbooks.blogspot.com/
Check out his electronic music here: soundcloud.com/master_control
And here: master-control.bandcamp.com
Check out his Etsy here: www.etsy.com/shop/ScottLefebvreArt
Stalk his Facebook at: www.facebook.com/TheLefebvre
E-mail him at: Scott_Lefebvre@hotmail.com
